From: slider@anashram.com   
      
   The Kremlin says there is "considerable" risk of the conflict escalating   
   to nuclear weapons.   
      
   Speaking on the 61st day of the war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei   
   Lavrov said continual deliveries of supplies and weaponry to Ukraine means   
   the NATO alliance has positioned itself as "in essence engaged in war with   
   Russia".   
      
   In an interview on Russian state television on Monday, he warned: "These   
   weapons will be a legitimate target for Russia's military acting within   
   the context of the special operation."   
      
   Lavrov went on: "NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through   
   a proxy and is arming that proxy.   
      
   "War means war."   
      
   His comments came after it was announced the US would be allocating a   
   further $713m (£560m) in military aid - but that this would not go to   
   Ukraine directly, but to members of NATO.   
      
   Earlier Lavrov had also claimed there was a "considerable" risk of the   
   conflict escalating to nuclear weapons.   
      
   "The danger is serious, real" he said, "and we must not underestimate it."   
      
   The claims of NATO 'involvement' in the two-month-old conflict came as UN   
   secretary-general Antonio Guterres confirmed he was to meet Mr Lavrov and   
   Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow today to make urgent   
   face-to-face pleas for peace.   
      
   On Monday, the US said it will again ramp up the amount of military kit it   
   is sending to Ukraine.   
      
   The State Department used an emergency declaration to approve the   
   potential sale of $165 million (£129m) worth of ammunition including   
   artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers. It also   
   said it will provide more than $300 million (£235m) in financing to buy   
   more supplies.   
      
   And US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin appeared to signify a shift in   
   broader US strategic goals when he said after the announcement, that while   
   the US wanted to see Ukraine remain a sovereign, democratic country, it   
   also wanted "to see Russia weakened to the point where it can't do things   
   like invade Ukraine".   
      
   Previously, the US position had been that the goal of American military   
   aid was to help Ukraine win and to defend Ukraine's NATO neighbours   
   against Russian threats.   
      
   It led to Moscow's ambassador to Washington warning the United States to   
   halt shipments, and claims that Western weapons were inflaming the   
   conflict.   
      
   The conflict in Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since   
   1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to   
   rubble, and forced more than five million people to flee abroad.   
      
   https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-says-it-is-engaged-in-   
   ar-with-nato-and-tells-the-west-to-stop-supplying-weapons-to-ukraine-12599126   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)